National Geographic Photo Winners
“If you find a luna moth on your porch tonight, you’re looking at an insect that can’t eat, drink, or bite. It has no mouth. The luna moth emerges from its cocoon and runs entirely on fat stored during its months as a caterpillar, feeding voraciously on hickory, walnut, sweet gum, and birch before sealing itself away. By the time it has wings, the eating chapter is over. It has somewhere between 7 and 10 days to use what’s left. In those days, the male uses enormous feathery antennae to detect a female’s pheromones from miles away. The female lays up to 200 eggs on the undersides of leaves, each one placed individually. Then both of them are done. Here’s one more thing that’s really interesting: those trailing hindwing tails aren’t decoration. Studies showed that spinning tails in flight scatter a bat’s echolocation signal, buying the moth critical seconds. If one lands near you this summer, take a moment to appreciate it. It’s in its final week.”
-from @giveashitnature on Twitter https://x.com/giveashitnature “I post practical ways to help wildlife & nature”
